Magic Number
by Sonya Zemnick
Summary: When sixteen year old, Abril Martinez moves to La Push, Washington from Las Angeles, California, she thinks that it will be the worst experience she has ever come across, until she finds herself next door neighbors with werewolves.
1. Chapter 1

**I stared out the window, out at the sheet of never ending gray clouds and endless mud puddles and rain drops as my iPhone music was on as loud as it would go. **

** "How could she do this to me?" I thought. "Take me out of sunny Los Angeles to this," I glower at the window. "rainy Washington State." When she said "Washington" I imagined D.C., or Seattle, but no. She meant the-middle-of-absolute-nowhere- La Push. Not only is it in the middle of nowhere, but it is freezing. It is a Native American reserve. That's the other thing. We aren't even Native American, we are Argentinian! I sighed angrily and rolled my eyes for one millionth time since she told us we were moving, which was soon followed by a smack to the back of my head. **

** "Ouch! Mom, why did you do that?" I yelled, clutching the back of my head.**

** "Abril, I swear, roll your eyes one more time; that was just a warning." My mom threatened me, keeping her eyes on the misty road ahead of us.**

** "Ugh…" I murmured. I kept my eyes on the window also. Soon, we passed through a small town called, "Forks."**

** "What a cute town!" My mom cheered, smiling. "Te gusta? (You like)?" She asked, looking at me. **

** I took the earphones out of my ears. "It is cute," I admitted, looking at the small shops with wooden bears on every porch. "but not to live in." I quickly added darkly, placing the earphones back in my ears. I started to pick at my pink nail polish, listening to the song, "**_**Replay by Iyaz**_**." Now all I saw were monumental pine trees speeding by. The dark most wood started to blend together with the dark green pine needles. Soon enough were on a narrow road. One side was the forest of huge pine trees and the other had a shiny, metal guard rail blocking cars from a sharp cliff that lead to a navy, gray cold ocean and a rocky beach.**

** "Wow, that's the beach, isn't it?" I thought. Even more disappointment seeped into the pit of my stomach. When I needed it most, my phone died.**

** "Fuck my life…" I whispered, ripping the earphones out of my ears and tossing my phone into my Love Pink carry-on bag that was at my feet. **

** "Abril, who said you could talk like that?" My mom yelled at me. "Stop being such a drama queen! You have been like this the whole drive up here. Moving is better for our family, why are you being so selfish? You think that moving isn't difficult for me? I left my parents, my sisters, my brother, my job and where I grew up. I bet that you only miss your drug addicted friends and that trashy school that you went to." I stared at her in disbelief. I was at loss of words.**

** "'All I miss is my friends'?" I quoted her, blinking slowly. "What about most of my family? Your parents **_**happen**_** to be my grandparents. Your sisters and brother **_**happen**_** to be my aunts and uncle. Their kids **_**happen**_** to my cousins. That school is where I always brought home A's on my report card. Those friends were the ones who comforted me when you and Papi divorced. Here, I have no memories. No place to look back and be proud of myself for. So, get your facts straight. Also, Papi just got his life together. You aren't the only one hurting, either. What about Angelic? She just started to get used to playing with the little girl that lives upstairs. Who lives here to play with her?" Taking a much needed breath, I tied my dark brown mess of curls into a messy bun.**

** At this point, my mom was in tears with her jaw clenched, and the guilt was so strong in the air, I could almost smell it. **

** Because of our excessive arguing, my little sister woke up crying. "Abby!" She whined, stretching her pudgy arms to me, squeezing her hands together. I turned in my seat, and held her hands.**

** "Abby is here." I crooned, rubbing her hand with my thumb. She stopped crying, but we still held hands. **

** "Thank you." My mom whispered. "We are almost at the house." I rolled my eyes, but because my head was turned, she couldn't see. **

** Sure enough, we were on the road of our new house, and a few seconds later, we turned into a driveway that contained a huge moving truck. I let go of Angelic's hands and grabbed my carry-on bag opening the car door. I got out of the car and stretched my legs, arms, and back. I crouched down and pulled the lever of the seat, moving it forward, so Angelic could get out of the car. Once she got out of the small, pink Volkswagen Beetle, I slammed the door and looked at the house. It was medium sized brick house with a medium sized front porch, a medium sized garage, and would soon be home to a medium sized family.**

** I inhaled the smell of firewood, coldness, forest, and clean rain. It was better than inhaling polluted heat, illegal street venders and marijuana, and smog. I sighed and made my way to the medium sized front door. Soggy earth squished underneath my multi colored DC's. As I was walking, a clean mist rose from the pine trees and felt refreshing on my face. The air was much cleaner hear than in L.A. Finally reaching the porch, I hopped up the stairs and opened the wooden front door revealing my older brother Thalis writing a check and a moving man standing in a fully furnished living room.**

** "Hey, Thalis." I said to him, carelessly waving. He looked up from his checkbook. **

** "Hey, Abby!" He tore the check out of the checkbook handing it to the mover. **

** "Have a safe drive." My brother said to the mover as he headed out the door.**

** "Thanks, man, enjoy your new house." The man shut and front door. My brother and I watched him make his way to the truck. He pulled out around my mom's Volkswagen Beetle and my brother's black Mazda 6. We then looked at each other with same look of disappointment. He half smiled at me as my mom came in with our suitcases. She set them down in front of the door and wiped some sweat from her brow. She walked over to Thalis and kissed him on the cheek. **

** "How are you? How was the drive? Did everything go okay with the moving people?" My mom shot down questions like a machine gun shoots bullets, but Thalis wasn't intimidated.**

** "Fine, good, yes, in that order." He replied grinning at her. My mom smiled. Before she could say anything else, Angelic toddled into the room from outside clutching her teddy bear that we bought for her in the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens. **

** "Thalis," She screamed, running towards him. **

** "Ang," He yelled back, lifting her into the air. Her laughter filled the room that was empty of emotion. He flew her around in circles, making her scream happily. I grew tired of this, and I wanted to isolate myself in solitary confinement. **

** "Thalis, can you show me to my room?" I asked, lifting my assorted Victoria Secret's and LOVE Pink bags from the carpeted floor. He looked at me skeptically and set Angelic down.**

** "Sure," He said, taking a few bags from me. "Let me help you." I nodded. He stepped in front of me leading me down a hallway that was to the left of the front door.**

** "Bathroom," He pointed to the first door on the right. "Angelic's room," He pointed to the door next to the bathroom. "Mom's room, closet, basement door, which is also my sanctuary," He pointed to three doors on the left. The first was my mom's room, the second was the linen closet, and the third was Thalis' room/basement. "And here," He began, opening the door at the end of the hallway. "is your room." **

** My room was fully furnished and set up just the way I had it back in LA. My four poster bed was up against the wall opposite the door, my leopard print bean bag was to the right of it, my white night stand was to the left of my bed which had a lamp on it, my desk was against the wall next to my door which had my purple desk lamp and Mac Pro on it, and my dresser and flat screen TV were against the wall that my door was on. **

** I stepped into my room, dropping my bags. **

** "Wow, Thalis, it's perfect." I murmured, staring at everything. "This is just like the room in-"**

** "In LA?" He cut me off, leaning against my door way. "I know; that's exactly how I planned it to look." He set my bags down. "Are you okay, though, Abby?" He asked, his face filled with concern.**

** I bit my lip and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine." Thalis looked at me and closed the door behind him.**

** "Are you okay?" He repeated. I walked over to my bean bag with my carry-on bag in hand. I plopped down on it, setting my bag aside.**

** "No, I'm not." I replied, feeling tears build up in my throat. He walked over and sat on my bed.**

** "What happened on the way up here?" he asked. I took a deep breath and felt a surge of adrenaline rush through my body just thinking about the ride up here. I prepared to tell the story.**

** "Let me start by saying it friggin' sucked," I began. He nodded. "When we got to Sacramento, I was getting really pissed off and started an argument by telling mom that this is the worst thing she could do to me. Then she yelled at me and smacked me. We got into a huge argument which caused Angelic to get scared and cry. Mom yelled at Angelic to be quiet, so I yelled at her for yelling at Angelic. She told me to mind my business, so I stopped talking to her. Angelic fell asleep for about an hour and woke up crying because she was hungry and had a wet diaper. By this time, it was about 7:30, 8 o'clock in the morning. So we stopped, ate, and mom and I switched places, so I drove for a while. Mom had to pee, so we went to go to the bathroom and we switched again. Now it is about 10 in the morning. After that, we got into another argument, stopped, and Mom gave me the cold shoulder all the way up to Seattle.**

"**But when we got to Forks…? She acted like nothing happened!" I flopped back on my bean bag with tears streaming down my face. I took a much needed breath, and wiped my nose with the back of my hand. I glanced over at Thalis who was wide eyed.**

** "Damn," He muttered. "The worst thing that thing that happened to me was that Tia Josefina kept texting me and talking shit about mom, and Carmen called. I looked at him skeptically. Carmen was his girlfriend that I didn't really like. He sighed. "She wasn't bitchy, she was just worried." I relaxed.**

** "I see." I leaned over to get my bag; I fished through it to find my phone and charger. Finding them, I plugged in my phone to the charger and plugged my charger into the outlet that was conveniently placed beside my bean bag. My phone turned on, and I had 13 new text messages saying something along the lines of, "I miss you" "I loved you" or "summer will be boring now, thanks." **

** "Great," I said sarcastically. "Everyone misses me." I locked my screen and set my phone down. Thalis was playing Angry Birds on his phone. I observed my room closer. Beside my dresser were two doors. I assumed they were closets. **

** "Thalis?" **

** "Yes?"**

** "Please explain to me why I have two closets? Or is one of them a furnace thing?" Thalis laughed and shook his head. **

** "Dear, one of those closets is really a bathroom." He got up and opened the door closest to my dresser. My own bathroom? Yay! Nobody will bang on the door telling me to hurry up or anything! At least this day is going somewhere now! I got up and skipped to the bathroom. It had a shower, toilet, and a big counter and mirror. I looked at myself in the mirror. I had mascara streaks on my cheeks and my hair was messy. I turned on the sink and wet my hands to wipe the make-up from my face. I undid my bun and shook my hair. **

** "That's better." I whisper. "Maybe I should look around; get some fresh air?" I think. I shut off the light and close the bathroom door, pushing passed Thalis. I walk over to my bean bag and unplug my phone. "I'm going for a walk."**

** "Ok." Thalis says, leaving my room. I follow him out and close my door. Entering the living room, I see my mom cooking through a window in the wall that leads to the kitchen.**

** "Mom, I am going for a walk, okay?" I call to her as I open the front door.**

** "Ok, don't get lost." She replies. I slam the door shut. I unwrap my headphones from around my phone and stick them in my ear. I unlocked my phone and chose to listen to Eminem. I cranked up the volume until the bass thudded in the back of my skull. I walked on for what seemed like a mile, when I noticed something; silence. Not silence as in my music stopped, silence as in no one was around. No homeless people begging for money or people wearing strange outfits, just me, my iPhone, a few houses, and the forest. **

** Sucking me back into reality, someone tapped on my shoulder scaring me so bad I screamed. I turned around to see a copper-skinned girl of about 18 smiling at me. **

** "Hi, my name is Leah Clearwater. Welcome to La Push." **


	2. Chapter 2

I stared at the girl dumbfounded, searching for words to say. I started by taking my earphones out of my head and wrapping the cord around my phone. Leah still smiled at me. I swallowed hard and said cautiously, "Hi my name is Abril Martinez, thank you for welcoming me."

She chuckled. "No problem; you moved in right next door to me, so I'm just being a good neighbor. Since we are both out here walking, do you want to meet some of the other people that live in our neighborhood?"

I smiled. "Yeah, sure."

"I guess friends won't be a problem here." I thought looking at my feet as we walked in silence. I looked up as we passed a few houses.

"Hey," she said breaking the silence. "This is my friend Sam's house. Let's go inside." She smiled at me before jogging towards a small, modern, cabin-like home with a large front porch that held a porch swing and a patio table set. I stood in the driveway staring at the house, shuffling my feet when Leah poked her head out of the front door calling to me from behind the storm front-screen door. "Abril, they don't bite, I promise!" Her words were followed by booming laughter.

"They?" I whispered, biting my lip as I sauntered towards the house. Each step weighed about one hundred kilograms (hopping up the front steps was like jumping underwater). I opened the door, ran my fingers quickly through my hair and smiled at the people that were in a cute-woodland style kitchen. There were three men-young adult boys (two of them were somewhat older than the other, but still young) and a woman who was sitting on the lap of one of the older men. She was beautiful on one side of her face and body, but the other was mangled and scarred. I could tell she was a sweet woman by her soft smile.

Leah dragged me closer towards those people. "Everyone, this is the new girl, Abril Martinez. She's from-"

"L.A.?" One of the men interrupted her, smiling at me. "Yeah, Sam, Jacob, and I helped her brother unpack and furnish their house." Leah looked surprised.

"Oh, well, okay then." She smiled at me. "Abril this is Paul Lahote, he can be obnoxious sometimes." He glared at her, and I could have sworn a growl of some sort came out of his mouth. The man that had the woman on his lap smacked him on the shoulder.

"Shut up, Paul." He said firmly, rolling his eyes. "Hi, Abril, I'm Sam Uley. This is my wife, Emily." He looked at the woman sitting on his lap with so much love I was surprised hearts didn't float out of his eyes.

Finally, the man that didn't say anything spoke up. "Hey, I'm Jacob Black." He smiled a perfect, white smile at me.

I smiled and replied, "Hey, so, yeah I'm Abril…like Leah had said…" I laughed.

"Sit down, Abril." Emily smiled, gesturing towards an empty chair in between Paul and Jacob.

"Ok," I told her, sitting in the chair.

"So, Abril," Paul began.

"So, Paul," I mocked him giggling. He took his finger and poked my forehead mocking my giggle in a high-pitched voice.

"What was it like in L.A.? Hot girls? Fun on the beach? Daisy dukes? Bikinis?" He spoke in a dreamy tone of voice, looking off into the distance, smiling at his imagination. I thought for a moment.

"Well, in Malibu or parts of Venice beach are like that…" I thought. "How could I tell them where I used to live? It'll be embarrassing…" I bit my nails, and kept on thinking about _my_ home in LA. Since I lived in, not only East Los Angeles, but in the projects, there was always something wrong; somebody getting killed on their way to work, crack in the recycling bins, homeless people begging for money or sleeping on my doorstep, street venders pestering people to buy their food that has been sitting in the hot sun all day…

I looked around at the eager faces that sat around me at the table. I cleared my throat. "Well," I began. "The media mostly shows Malibu and Hollywood in magazines and on TV, but I didn't live there. I used to live in East Los Angeles in the Maravilla Projects." I paused and looked around. Their faces were still filled with hunger.

"Go on!" Paul urged. I giggled. "Well, every day after school, we would walk to this mall and get Mexican food from my neighbor that worked in the restaurant, then we would go shopping. During summer, we would mostly go to Hollister, H&M, and Love Culture. In winter, we would go to Abercrombie, Forever21, and Kohl's. Then we would walk home.

"At home, in the projects, our apartment was pretty small; I had to share a room with my sister Angelic. Our neighbors upstairs and across the hall smoked crack _all _day, and our neighbors downstairs were really sketchy and never came out of their house. And in the parking lot, people would sell drugs and a lot of times, there would be shootings there.

"At school, my friends and I skipped class to go to this senior party," I began. At the thought I started to laugh. Paul lightly tapped my shoulder.

"Tell us what's so funny!"

I stopped my fit and composed myself. "Okay, okay. So, we were walking to the house where it was at, and this fat police officer stops us asking why we weren't in school. So, we pretended like we couldn't speak English. He tries to put handcuffs on us, so we ran as fast as we could. He was running so much that his…chest…was bouncing and basically hitting him in the face. So, my friend Nallely video taped him running." I finished the story laughing really hard, along with Jacob, Paul, Leah, and Sam. When we regained our composure, I saw Emily's face painted with concern.

"You didn't get caught, did you?" She asked apprehensively.

"Oh God, no. He eventually got out of breath and let us go."

She relaxed. "Okay, good." I smiled and nodded.

"Wow," Paul said, staring at me. "And here I am thinking you were going to be shy and awkward!" Leah laughed. "She's not Bella." This time, everyone howled with laughter. "Bella?" I thought, looking around curiously. Before I could ask whom she was, my phone started to ring.

"OH MY GOSH, it's your mom!" My phone yelled.

"Hola?" I answered.

"¿Dónde estás?" She asked.

"Estoy en una casa de nuestros vecinos." I answered, biting my nails as the others looked at me in awe.

"Invítalos a nuestra casa. Estoy cocinando." She said, I could hear her smile.

"Ok, mami. Chao-chao." I hung up. I swallowed hard and nervously looked at them. "So, my mom wants to know if you guys can come over to our house? She's cooking." Their faces brightened up.

"Free Food? Why not?" Sam said cooly. Emily shook her head. "He always has to seem cold, don't worry about him." I smiled.

"I'll come. I like Hispanic food." Paul winked at me flirtatiously. I rolled my eyes as Leah and Jacob both agreed to come.

"Cool, well I better go help my mom. You all should come by 6:30." I told them. They nodded. As I turned to leave, Leah grabbed my wrist. She looked at the floor and it seemed like she would be blushing if her skin weren't so dark.

"Can I help, too?" She asked. I smiled. "Yeah, of course." She smiled back and we both headed out the door to my house. As we walked on Sam's lawn, the Earth made squishing noises and water seeped out of the grass.

When we reached my house, my socks were soaked and felt like sand that was just washed over by waves. Leah and I decided to take our shoes off outside. When I opened the door, _dulce de leche _and _asado _seduced my nose.

"Abril?" My mom called from the kitchen over the noises of sizzling

"Yeah it's me! My friend is here, too!" I replied, as I turned right into the doorway beside the front door that led to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, my mom was holding a bowl down on the counter and stirring the contents with a wooden spoon. My mom looked up at Leah and I and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Sofia Martinez. You can call me Miss Sofia." My mom set the bowl and spoon down and held out her hand for Leah to shake. Leah shook it. "Hi, Miss Sofia, I'm Leah Clearwater. …You can call me Leah…"

"Clearwater? Don't you live next door?" My mom asked.

"Yes I do." Leah smiled.

"I guess I will see you a lot then, I guess."

"Yup." Leah said awkwardly. She looked around my kitchen. A fluorescent light above us brightly lighted it, and to the left of the doorway was a double oven. Beside the oven were a gas burner and a window above that. There was a counter top with the sink, a dishwasher, and a big refrigerator. There was at the end of the kitchen beside the refrigerator that was the pantry/laundry room.

"So, what can we help you with?" I asked my mom, as I walked to the sink to wash my hands, being followed closely by Leah.

My mom thought for a moment. "You both can make the empanadas and the rice and beans." She pointed to the ingredients; Flour, lard, eggs, milk, salt, pepper, 3 packs of ground beef, paprika, chili powder, oregano, ground cumin, and white onions, bowl, and measuring items that sat on the counter. Flour, lard, eggs, milk, salt, pepper, 3 packs of ground beef, paprika, chili powder, oregano, ground cumin, and white onions.

"Alright." I replied. "Okay, Leah, you can mix the stuff in the bowl and measure it out, ok?" I told her with a smile. She smiled as a reply. "Alright, Abril."

Suddenly. My "drill-sergeant" self took over. "3 cups of flour, separate the whites from the yolk of one egg, pour the milk into the glass measuring pitcher until it reaches one cup and put it in the microwave for thirty-seconds." She hurriedly followed my instructions, throwing the ingredients in the bowl as if a bomb would go off if she didn't. In ten minutes flat, the dough was finished and all we had to do was make the filling and bake the whole thing.

As we mixed the assorted spices in with the ground beef, Leah, my mom, and I were talking a lot; having conversations ranging from Argentina, to sex, to La Push, to having babies. I found out that Leah has a younger brother around my age named Seth.

By the time the empanadas were in the oven, Leah was allowed to call my mom "Sofia." We sat at a little breakfast table my mom had put in the corner of the kitchen in front of the door way drinking coffee with milk, waiting for Leah's mom, Sam, Emily, Paul, some kid named Quil, some kid named Embry, and Jacob to arrive.

"Thank God there is so much food here," Leah exclaimed.

"Why?" I asked, sipping my still-hot coffee gingerly.

"Have you _seen_ your brother eat, Abril?" My mom asked laughing, as she got up to stir some chimichurri sauce that rested in a pot on the stove.

"Oh, I get it, because boys are coming!" I responded, feeling a light bulb go off in my head.

"There you go, smarty." Leah said sarcastically. I mocked her in a baby voice. She smacked my arm playfully and I hit her back, followed by us sticking our tongues out at each other.

"Hey, is your brother coming?" I asked her.

"I don't think so. He is in Seattle at this mall buying new clothes." She drank her coffee.

"Cool." I replied, suddenly jealous of this boy. "I wish I was in Seattle buying new clothes." I thought, glaring at the floor when the doorbell rang.

"I get it!" Angelique _**(I changed the spelling of her name because it's the proper way to spell her name)**_ yelled as we watched her run and scream to the door. She set her bear down on the floor in order to open the door (she had to use both hands.) I leaned forward to see who was there. It was Jacob and two boys I assumed to be Embry and Quil.

"Hi there, sweetie, is Abril home?" Jacob asked Angelique, smiling at her. Angelique stared at Jacob with her big, round, brown eyes. "Uh-huh." She said.

"ABI!" She yelled. "A handsome boy is here!" Leah laughed. "Handsome?" Angelique nodded vigorously.

"Come in, Jake, and…" I hesitated. "You other people…" I finished, smiling at the other boys who came in my house.

"Embry." One of the boys pointed at himself.

"Quil." The other copied him.

"Oh, well, hi there! I'm Abril!" I said cheerfully to Embry and Quil.

"Hey, 'sup, Jake." Thalis came into the house from the deck, putting out a cigarette. Him and Jacob shook hands. I scowled at Thalis.

"What did I do?" He asked, ruffling my hair.

"You told me you quit, you bum!" I smacked his chest.

"Ouch, damn, Abril." He said rubbing the spot that I hit. "That was my second cig I had today, so shut up with your health awareness bullshit."

"I will stop when I _want_ to stop!" I told him. He mocked me in the baby voice that I mocked Leah in.

"Ooh! She told you, Thalis!" Jacob howled, laughing.

"Abril! Ven aquí!" My mother called from the kitchen.

"I'm coming!" I called back. I walked into the kitchen, followed by Leah.

"Girls, help set everything up in here. Put the empanadas on a platter and be sure to tell the boys which ones are hot." She ordered as she put the _asado _on fancy dinner platters.

Leah opened the oven and I grabbed the potholders, gingerly lifting the first two batches of empanadas out of the oven and placing them on the stove. We repeated the process with the next two batches. I grabbed a fork from the drawer that was beside the sink and was about to spear one of the empanadas and place it on the fancy blue and white platter when my mom snatched the fork from my hand.

"Are you retarded?" She yelled. "Use a tongs!"

"Thanks, mom." I groaned, taking the tongs from her hand. A booming laughter came from the living room. Thalis poked his head into the kitchen from the window.

"What did you do?" He laughed.

"She tried to put the empanadas on the platter-thing with a fork instead of tongs." Leah explained, smiling ear-to-ear.

"Are you kidding me?" He chortled.

I shamefully nodded as I placed the empanadas on the platter, the hot ones on one column and the mild ones on another column.

The doorbell rang again, and Sam, Paul, and Emily walked into the house. Emily was holding a bouquet of flowers and a small tin box. She walked in the kitchen.

"Hi, Ms. Martinez!" Emily handed her the flowers and tin box. "I'm Emily Uley, my husband Sam is in the living room. Welcome to La Push! That's tea that my grandmother made. Its really delicious." My mom looked happily overwhelmed.

"Hi, Emily, please call me Sofia." My mom placed the flowers on the breakfast table. "Thank you for these." She smiled.

"Oh, you're welcome! I hope you all love it here. I heard you came from Los Angeles!" She exclaimed.

"Oh yes, we did come from there." My mom laughed. "I hope you like South American food!" My mom gestured the food we made.

"I never tried it!" Emily replied, as the doorbell rang for the third time. This time it was Leah's mom, Sue Clearwater.

"Hello, boys!" She greeted Thalis and the rest of the boys in the house. "Oh, hello little one." She said to Angelique.

"Hey, Sue." My mom greeted her as she took down plates and forks and knives. "Ok, everyone, come eat." My mom called out the kitchen window. Everyone lined up to get some food.

"Hey, Leah, do you want to eat in my room?" I asked her after we filled our plates with asado (Argentine barbeque), rice, beans, empanadas, and some fried plantains.

"Yeah, sure. I don't think there is enough room at the table anyways." (Our dining room table was a fold out table with some folding chairs and Angelique's high chair). Before going to my room, I grabbed to cans of Coke for us.

We set ourselves up on my bed, leaning against my headboard.

"Are you ready to try it?" I asked Leah, as she stared at her food.

"Uh, yeah! I don't know which one to eat first!" She bit her lower lip.

"I'm gonna eat our empanadas first, I don't know about you, but… they look amazing." I picked up the empanada and bit into it with a crunch. The flavors exploded in my mouth. "Mmm!" I groaned.

"Okay, okay, I'll eat that first." Leah picked it up and bit into it with the same crunch. "Oh my God, that's delicious!" She took another bite.

"I told you!" I said to her, taking more bites of the meat filled pastry until it was finished. We resumed eating in silence, with an occasional, "Wow, this is really good" from Leah. When we were finished, I took our plates, forks, and knives to the kitchen. Then I went back to my room.

When I sat on the bed, I noticed Leah was frowning and she looked like she was about to cry.

"What's the matter?" I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Can I tell you something?" She asked.

"Yeah, anything."

"Well, Sam used to be my boyfriend, right?" She began. "I still love him, but he's married now, and I don't have a chance. Ever since he saw Emily, I pretty much had to give up, you know? Every time I get around them, I just get upset, it's like my heart breaks over again. Sam hates me, and I don't know why. I just… I give up." She flopped on my bed on her back.

"Why do you go there often then?" I asked her. "If he hurts you, then stop seeing him."

"I wish it was that simple. I have to go there every day because-" Suddenly there was a knock at my door.

"Come in!" I called. Jacob, Quil, and Embry stumbled in.

"Can we join you ladies?" Jacob's eyes flashed darkly to Leah's.

"Yeah, sure." I shut my door behind them.

"What were you girls talking about?" Quil asked, sitting on my beanbag. Leah looked at me pleadingly.

"Cramps and periods and pregnancy, okay?" I groaned, lying on my bed beside Jacob.

"Oh, delicious." Embry replied sarcastically.

"You know it!" I said back. They all laughed. "So, what do you people do for fun here?" I asked.

"We surf." Jacob said.

"We go to Seattle." Leah said.

"We go hiking." Embry said.

"We eat new comers!" Quil added, winking at me.

"Oh, that's cool." I said. "Wait, you all surf here?" I looked around astonished. "It's so cold…" I thought

"Yeah! It's fun. Oh! We also have bonfires a lot." Leah also added. There was a knock at my door.

"Come in!" I beckoned. It was Thalis. "Yes, manito?"

"Would you guys like _dulce de leche_?" He asked. Suddenly, a child took over my body.

"Oh my God, yes! I want _dulce de leche_! So do you, Leah, okay? It is heavenly, sticky, goodness inside cake!" I pulled her to the kitchen where Emily, Mrs. Clearwater, and my mom were at the breakfast table, drinking coffee and eating cake filled with _dulce de leche._ I cut Leah a slice of the cake, and I cut myself a slice.

"Abril, would you like to come stay the night at my house tonight?"Mrs. Clearwater asked me with a smile. I looked at my mom and smiled.

"Oh, okay." I responded, awkwardly taking a bite of cake.

"I'm going to go and fix up the house. Come home before eleven tonight, okay Leah?" Her mom said, finishing her coffee.

"Bye, Sue." My mom and Emily chorused. Leah and I exchanged glances, and my eyes flickered to Emily. We finished our cake and went back to my room.

For the rest of the time at my house, we listened to music, hung out with Jacob, Quil, and Embry, and watched _"The Last Song." _At 9:30, I packed my LOVE Pink duffel bag with my hair straightener, make up, deodorant, perfume, tooth brush, tooth paste, a pair of skinny jeans, a tube top, strapless bra, and a pair of panties.

We headed down the hallway, and I put on a pair of black flip-flops.

"K, I'm leaving." I called to my mom.

"Bye, _mija_!" My mom called out the door. Leah put on her shoes that were on my porch. We crossed my driveway and a big lawn that belonged to no one to reach Leah's house. In her driveway, there was a Lexus and a Hyundai Sonata.

"That's my brother's car." She pointed to the Lexus. "I guess you will get to meet him."

"Oh…" A volcano of butterflies erupted in my stomach. I followed Leah to her front door. She opened it.

"You can put your bag on the stairs for now." She took it from me and set it on the bottom step.

"Hello? Seth!" Leah called.

"Yeah, I'm in the kitchen!" He called back. More butterfly lava oozed in my stomach. I swallowed hard.

I followed her down a hallway that led to the kitchen. Seth had his back turned and was fixing a cupboard.

"Seth, this is the new girl, Abril Martinez." Leah introduced me. He laughed.

"Martinez?" He asked.

"Yes?" I replied.

"Where were you born?" He asked, screwing a screw into the hinges on the cupboard.

"Argentina…" I replied.

"You must be pretty." He said back. I blushed and took him in. He was wearing a black T-shirt and khaki shorts. He was tan and had dark brown hair that would probably be dirty blonde in the sunlight. He was muscular and tall. His voice was breathtaking as well. All I needed was to see his face.

"Thanks." I whispered. Leah sat down at a table that was next in front of a sliding glass door.

"All done!" He said, shutting the cupboard. He turned around and looked at me. His pupils dilated, his mouth opened slightly, and he dropped his screw diver. He grabbed the counter top with a pale face and a shaky hand.

"Are you okay? You look like you're gonna throw up…" I said, staring in his golden-green eyes. He laughed.

"You are just really pretty." He replied, smiling. I could have sworn he whispered, "Finally" under his breath.


End file.
